Salt Lake scandal could roll more Olympic heads

VP Pound proposes 'far-reaching' reforms

February 25, 1999
Web posted at: 8:04 p.m. EST (0104 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The International Olympic Committee will
meet privately this weekend to determine if
more members should be recommended for expulsion in the
widening scandal surrounding how Salt Lake City was awarded
the 2002 Winter Games.

IOC Vice President Dick Pound, the chief IOC investigator,
said Thursday the executive board will gather at headquarters
in Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss additional allegations
of ethics violations by its members, including the
acceptance of cash and travel.

Those allegations stem from letters from more than 10 former
bid cities and a separate investigation by the Salt Lake
Organizing Committee's ethics panel.

"The standard should be the same for everyone," Pound said,
meaning all IOC members.

"The commission will make its recommendations if it has
enough information to go on," he told reporters during a 30-
minute conference call.

Pound, chief IOC investigator

Pound's six-person ad-hoc commission recommended last month
expelling six members, after investigating
allegations that IOC members received goods worth more than
$600,000.

In that probe, the committee looked at 14 members,
three of whom are still under investigation. Four have
since resigned.

The separate Salt Lake report named an additional 10 IOC
members who had not been investigated by the IOC.
Two weeks ago, Pound said those members would be investigated
as well.

At this weekend's meeting, accused members will be allowed to
defend themselves. After weighing the evidence, the board
will make its recommendations to the entire IOC membership.

"We are certainly proceeding to deal with members who have
acted improperly," Pound said.

The IOC will vote on the board's recommendations at a special
assembly March 17-18. A two-thirds vote would be required to
expel the accused. Pound said the IOC has yet to determine if
it will make available reasons why his panel might exonerate
a member. But he added, "It would probably be advisable. My
personal view is that we should do that."

In Thursday's conference call, Pound said the IOC's top
corporate sponsors still support the Olympics. Those sponsors
contribute about $40 million each over a four-year period. He
also said the IOC is prepared to undergo "far-reaching"
reforms to "become a lot more
accessible and transparent to the public."

Among those reforms, he said, would be publishing of
accounting records on an annual or biannual basis.